Our Missing Hearts cover art

Our Missing Hearts

Preview

Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Our Missing Hearts

By: Celeste Ng
Narrated by: Celeste Ng, Lucy Liu
Try Premium Plus free

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.
Cancel

About this listen

From the number one best-selling author of Little Fires Everywhere, a deeply heart-wrenching novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear.

Read by award-winning actress Lucy Liu, with an author's note read by Celeste Ng.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard's library. He knows not to ask too many questions, stand out too much, stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve 'American culture' in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird's mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn't know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn't wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is drawn into a quest to find her.

His journey will take him through the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken and finally to New York, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilised communities can turn a blind eye to the most searing injustice. It's a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change in the world, the lessons and legacies we pass onto our children and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.

©2022 Celeste Ng (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK
Domestic Thrillers Dystopian United States Women's Fiction Fiction Science Fiction Emotionally Gripping Suspense

What listeners say about Our Missing Hearts

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    73
  • 4 Stars
    44
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    87
  • 4 Stars
    24
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    70
  • 4 Stars
    33
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

New speed for Celeste Ng

I really enjoyed the story, but the narration drove me nuts - too breathy, pauses in the wrong spot, emphasis on the wrong words. It is a testament to the great storyline that I finished it, despite the poor choice of narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The story could fit many historical and current world issues

Too long. Especially where Margarets part enters the book. I started to get bored and felt it went too long.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thought Provoking

Excellent book, the themes are very close to home for too many people in this world
A story of where racism and fear of the other can lead us.
The narration was excellent too
Well done all involved

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Poetic artistic and moving

Celeste Ng gas created a world that could easily be made real.
The world has shades of The Handmaiden and 1984.
It is an unsettling story written with poignancy. It should be mandatory reading in all highschool curriculums.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heart-string pulling!

What a thought-provoking novel - one everyone should read! It challenges us to question and consider those things we often choose to ignore. So beautifully narrated in every aspect too!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Pretty boring

I really wanted to love this book but it felt boring. Way too long. Dull performances. Not much suspense. A very light listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking dystopian story

I’m not sure what I wanted out of this book but I don’t think I got it. I so badly wanted this story to have a happy ending. It’s a story about the power of stories (if that makes sense) but not one for the faint hearted.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Eerily relevant

It’s like linking the threads of a frayed old piece of fabric back together.
This story although fictional reveals political and social issues of race, fear, and injustice, held together through power.
What a masterful creation. Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not So Dystopian Child Removal

Thank you Celeste for writing this important story about child removal through the vehicle of fiction. I found it scarily believable.

Even though I liked the sound of the narrator’s voice, I found her delivery a little stilted in parts. However aside from that minor distraction, an excellent listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

And unexpected delight

I initially thought I wasn’t going to enjoy this book, despite my love of Celeste Ng’s writing, not being in the mood for a somewhat dystopian flavour at the moment. but I absolutely loved it. Inspirational

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.